Volume 19 Issue 24
Inside: A Visit To The 5-Star Magnolia Spa & Salon!
November 19, 2011
See Page 25!
The Direct-Mail News Magazines Serving Wesley Chapel & New Tampa Since 1993! THE INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWS MAGAZINES DIRECTLY MAILED TO: WESLEY CHAPEL: Aberdeen • Belle Chase • Brookside • Chapel Pines • Country Walk • Lexington Oaks • Meadow Pointe • New River • Northwood • Pinewalk • Pine Ridge • Saddlebrook • Saddleridge Estates • Saddlewood • Seven Oaks • Lakes at Northwood • The Villages of Wesley Chapel • Wesley Pointe • Westbrook Estates • Williamsburg NEW TAMPA: Arbor Greene • Cory Lake Isles • Cross Creek • Grand Hampton • Heritage Isles • Hunter’s Green • Hunter’s Key • K-Bar Ranch • Lake Forest • Live Oak Preserve • Pebble Creek • Richmond Place • Tampa Palms • West Meadows
Construction Begins On PHCC’s Porter Campus At Wiregrass By Sean Bowes Construction has started on the new Pasco-Hernando Community College (PHCC) full-service site, to be called the Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch. The school is scheduled to open and hold classes by the spring semester of 2014. Since June, workers have been relocating gopher tortoises that lived within the 110,534 square-foot area on which the campus will be built. Currently, contractors have been clearing and grading the land to lay the foundation for the facility as well as laying down the underground utilities. A spokesperson for PHCC says that the new campus will offer the latest hightech trends in higher education with a traditional focus on teaching and learning. And, at least two floors of the main classroom building will be dedicated to health programs. “PHCC is very excited about opening the Porter Campus in Wesley
Ground has just been broken on the “Porter Campus” of Pasco-Hernando Community College, but it will look like this artist’s rendition by 2014. Chapel in January 2014,” says Lucy Miller, PHCC’s executive director of marketing and public relations. “The enthusiasm for the new campus, expressed by the business area and the residents of this growing community, underscores the need for providing higher education and training services in this area of our two-county district.” The campus should be holding
classes approximately one year after the opening of Raymond James Financial opens its campus and two years after the Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel has opened its doors to patients. Both the hospital and Raymond James Financial should benefit from the close proximity to the Porter Campus, which will primarily focus on its business and health care programs, in addition to providing
many general education classes. “Currently we have articulation agreements with Florida Hospital for health programs and look forward to our continued partnership as we open the Porter Campus,” says Miller. “PHCC is always open to forming new partnership agreements to provide educational and training opportunities to benefit residents in our area.” District 2 county commissioner Pat Mulieri, whose district includes all of Wesley Chapel, says she is excited about the introduction of a PHCC campus in the Wiregrass area, which was previously a 5,000-plus-acre cattle ranch nicknamed “Gatorville.” “Wesley Chapel is definitely an economic engine for Pasco and New Tampa,” says Mulieri, a retired former PHCC professor. “The campus will be a catalyst for growth and development. Businesses need an educated workforce and PHCC can definitely play an See “PHCC” on page 5.
Thomas E. Weightman Middle School Celebrates 20 Years Of Excellence
NEIGHBORHOOD MAGAZINE!
Woman Arrested For Filing False Police Report, Business News From All Over Wesley Chapel, A Good Start For WRH Girls Hoops & Much More!
Visits To The Beautiful Magnolia Spa & Salon & The Srishti Dance Academy & Your Last Chance To Enter Our 2011 Dining Survey & Contest!
See pages 3-24!
See pages 25-36!
Honoring Its Namesake On November 10, a reception was held in the school's cafeteria for what assistant principal Lori Mobley called, “an evening of remembrance and recognition.” A brief program designed to honor the school's founder was held and enjoyed by the crowd of See “Weightman” on page 4.
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1,000 students every year, although, before John Long Middle School in Wiregrass Ranch opened in 2007, Weightman had a sea of outdoor portable classrooms to handle the student body of more than 2,000.
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the school since it opened its doors in 1991. Weightman’s history runs deep in Pasco County, as most of the roads near the school were unpaved and the Bridgewater and Watergrass subdivisions, now located near Wells Rd. in the same area were still cattle ranches. It was the second school to open in the Wesley Chapel area, after Quail Hollow Elementary. Also, The Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce had its first meetings at the Weightman media center with Beth Brown, now executive director of secondary schools in Pasco County, who was an assistant principal at Weightman at the time. The school has had six principals who have led the Wildcats in the last two decades, including current principal Shea Davis. In the past three years, it typically has had a little more than
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Teachers, faculty members, administrators and even some students from the past and present who have walked the halls at Thomas E. Weightman Middle School have a lot to celebrate, as the school recently celebrated its 20th birthday. “I’m very proud of the school,”
says Weightman language arts teacher Freda Abercrombie. “I have been teaching here since the school opened, when it was the only school on Wells Rd. (where there are now three schools). It’s always been a positive place with a staff of teachers who love what they are doing.” Abercrombie is one of 11 staff members who have been teaching at
Dated Material Please Rush!
By Sean Bowes
For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 19, Issue 24 • November 19, 2011 • www.WCNeighborhoodNews.com
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